- Joined
- Jan 30, 2017
- Messages
- 261
If you have to have a mini lathe then I don't know what to tell you. My lathe will do metric but it isn't a mini lathe, it's a 13x30 and weighs 2300 lbs, and it is the smallest lathe that I would consider owning.
What should mini lathe owners do, then, to correct for the cheap Manufacturing of their beds?
Do you have a suggestion for a better METRIC lathe?
I have had trouble finding a comparable lathe which is metric.
Taig is a micro lathe with a flat bead. It comes as a kit or assembled. For the kit the bed needs to be lapped in. That is where the idea came from in the first place.
http://www.cartertools.com/setup.html
I think the lapping idea comes from the Chinese Seig mini lathes that are so commonly available under many brand names (Grizzly, Micro Lux, Harbor Freight, etc). It is my understanding that they can be so rough that they are almost impossible to use. People have resorted to lapping the sliding parts so they will move smoothly enough to work with. Use and wear would acomplish the same thing but it's difficult to use a mavhine that is to sticky to mve smoothly. I have a Harbor Freight mini mill that was so rough it would barely move if adjusted tight enough to cut without terrible chatter. I am ashamed to admit I lapped the table ways a little. It made the machine workable. I would never lap a machine that is working. It amounts to greatly accelerated wear.i have a LMS 3536 lathe I'd like to "tune up" a bit. I've seen You Tubes where some 500 grit in oil was brushed onto the ways, and the saddle slid back and forth to smooth/polish them.
Just wondering if this process would take off enough metal to screw up alignment. Maybe make one side higher than the other...or whatever...
Wouldn't think so, but just checking.
Actually the lathe being discussed and what is needed seems to be a perfect scraping project. I think the major roadblock here is technical knowledge aligned with vocational application.Has anyone heard of scrapping to remove burrs ect?